Margaret E. Arland

[Guest Nicole]

Margaret E. Arland (nee Fullmer) fell asleep in death on December 15, 2017, at the age of 96. Margaret is survived by her daughter, Elizabeth (Betty) and her husband Syl Jones, of Minneapolis, MN, and by her adored and adoring granddaughter, Leigh Ruth-Margaret Wade (Erin) of New York City.

Margaret is also survived by her brothers’ children - niece Patty, and nephews Richard (Dick), Jerry, Bill, Craig, Doug, Jim, Russ, Bob and their families - for whom she had great fondness. Also surviving her are step-grandson McGraw Jones and his daughters Quinlan and Sawyer, step-granddaughters Dresden and Channing Jones and her son Najee, and Evan Jones. Margaret is also survived by loving nieces and nephews in the Arland family including David and Diana Arland - as well as many other family and friends. Margaret was preceded in death by her husband, Marvin W. Arland in 1994, their infant son and Margaret’s parents - Leona Edith (Cloud) Fullmer and Coy Levi Fullmer. Also preceding her in death were her brothers Douglas E., Robert V. and C. Leland Fullmer, their sisters Patty Jean and Mary Ann and son-in-law George F. Wade. Her close friend and sister-in-law, Marlyn Arland, and her next-door neighbor and friend, Mildred Davis, also preceded Margaret in death. Margaret was born on December 24, 1920, in Kearney, NE, and journeyed to Goshen County, WY, with her family when she was eight years old. The family moved from ranch to ranch seeking work while the children attended a different school nearly every year until Margaret was in 9th grade. Margaret’s family settled in the Torrington, WY, area, where she, her siblings and several life-long friends were the “country kids” at Torrington Senior High School. Margaret graduated high school in 1938, after which she went to work for Goshen County in the surveyor’s office. It was there, where farmers in the area registered titles to their land, that she met the man who, three years later, in 1941, would become her husband. Four months later, Margaret and Marvin fell victim to quotas handed down to local draft boards at the onset of U.S. involvement in WWII. Marvin was drafted into the U.S. Army, despite the fact he was the eldest of 11 children, a farmer and nearly 30 years old – criteria that usually exempted men from active military duty even during wartime. After Marvin’s departure for North Africa, Margaret resumed full-time work at the J.C. Penny Co. in Torrington, where she worked for four years until she learned that Marvin was critically injured with shrapnel eleven days after D-Day near St. Lo, France. This was the beginning of Margaret’s life as a wife, homemaker, advocate and caregiver for her husband who came home a paraplegic. They built their home in Torrington in 1950, and in 1951 adopted their daughter, Betty. Margaret became active in the United Presbyterian Church in 1953, and served the church faithfully in many capacities. She was a 4-H member as a teenager, and served as an adult 4-H leader for 14 years. Margaret was a lifelong member of the VFW Auxiliary and DAV Auxiliary, and she and Marvin volunteered their time with Meals on Wheels for several years. Margaret was known by many as an excellent artist earning many awards for her oil and pastel paintings, as a wonderful gardener, a fabulous seamstress and baker of angel food cakes. However, her most valued accomplishment was the work she did for and care she provided to her husband. Margaret lived in Torrington until 1999 when she sold the family home and relocated to Minneapolis, MN, to be closer to her daughter and granddaughter. In the last 15 years she travelled to several states on the east coast, to Puerto Rico, France and Greece. It was also during this time Margaret began to study the Bible again and after two years of study was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses at the age of 91. She served Jehovah by going out in the ministry and attending meetings faithfully until her death.

Margaret’s Minnesota friends are invited to join her family at a Memorial of her life at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in Minnetonka, MN, located at 13001 Lake St. Ext., Minnetonka, on Saturday January 6 at 1:30 PM with a reception for all guests to follow.

Margaret’s Wyoming family and friends are invited to join her immediate family at a Remembrance Service at Colyer’s Funeral Home in Torrington, WY, at a later date. Contributions can be made in Margaret’s memory to the Torrington Community Friendship Center or the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society.

http://www.starherald.com/obits/margaret-e-arland/article_b28cf613-606b-5ed4-a278-e398284a3549.html

[John L.]

Ones are never too old to become a servant of Jehovah.